Page leads Panthers to victory in home opener

Pitt men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon stressed, to his team, the importance of getting the… Pitt men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon stressed, to his team, the importance of getting the ball inside throughout the week’s practice, and apparently, his players took that tip to heart and executed just that.

In Pitt’s regular-season home opener, the No. 22 Panthers combined their physical style and a total team effort for a 90-69 victory over St. Francis on Saturday.

Four Panther players scored in double figures, with Julius Page’s 21 points leading the way. Chevon Troutman was a perfect 8-for-8 from the field and finished with 18 points, while Jaron Brown contributed 16 points. Freshman forward Chris Taft put in a solid effort in only his second collegiate game; he scored 12 points and had eight rebounds and six assists.

“It was our first home game, and it was a really good showing against a good team for us,” Dixon said. “We have some things to improve on, and we know that, and the players know that, but it’s early. It was good to see our guys execute well tonight.”

The Red Flash couldn’t handle the bigger, more physical Panthers, who scored 68 points in the paint. By getting so many high-percentage shots the entire night, Pitt was able to shoot almost 63 percent from the floor.

Darshan Luckey had a game-high 23 points for St. Francis, Erick Wills added 18 points, and Jason Osborne had 13 points.

Page opened the game by draining a three-pointer and then scoring again on Pitt’s next possession. Pitt steadily increased its lead during the half, without going on any major lopsided runs, but by effectively executing the shots it took.

Point guard Carl Krauser played a major part in establishing the lead in the first half as he distributed the ball to his teammates, finishing the half with seven assists and no turnovers. Ball distribution was not a problem for the Panthers – they had 29 assists as a team, compared to the Red Flashes’ nine.

The Panthers took their biggest lead of the half at the 5:19 mark after Page made a layup, which came after a fast break that Brown finished after a feed by Page.

Pitt entered the locker room leading 46-38 at halftime.

“At halftime, we talked about defense, and our goal was to do a better job defensively, and they shot 35 percent in the second half, so we addressed that,” Dixon said.

Pitt began the second half looking much like it did in the first half, executing its offense well and steadily pulling away from St. Francis, going nine-of-14 from the floor for the first five minutes.

Pitt pulled away for good when it went on a 13-2 run for five minutes in the middle of the second half. The run hit a high point when Taft stole the ball at the top of the key and passed to Brown downcourt, who finished the fast break with a big, two-handed dunk. The dunk was followed by a Mark McCarroll free throw and a layup by freshman Aaron Gray to extend Pitt’s lead to 22 points.

Pitt managed to get its lead to 23 points on two occasions and finished off St. Francis for the 21-point triumph.

“I think we are going to get better and better,” Dixon said. “We have a lot of areas we can improve in, though. I think we can be very good, and I think we will be very good.”

The Panthers return to action on Wednesday night, when they host Robert Morris at the Petersen Events Center for a 7 p.m. tip-off.